Everything flows and changes, circumstances sometimes change our plans. Often, for a variety of reasons, it becomes necessary to make changes to the purchased travel document. Let's figure out how to change a train ticket?
Electronic and conventional train tickets: is there a difference?
There is no difference between a ticket purchased at a railway ticket office and an electronic ticket issued through a specific site. Both one and the other are full travel documents. It should only be remembered that they are valid only upon presentation of a document proving the identity of the passenger.
What are the reasons for changing tickets?
Most often, passengers turn to railway ticket offices with a request to make changes to tickets for the following reasons:
- need to change the date of the trip;
- It is required to change places in the carriage;
- need to replace passenger data.
And if in the first two cases the procedure for reissuing a ticket, under certain conditions, is possible, then replacement of passenger data is not allowed under any circumstances. No exceptions are made even if an error is detected in the name, surname or passport number. In this case, only the procedure for returning the ticket and issuing a new one is considered (subject to the availability of seats in the carriage on the required dates).
Making another travel date
In accordance with the rules of railway carriers, a change in the date of travel in a ticket for a long-distance train is possible under strict observance of the following conditions:
- re-issuance of a travel document is possible only for long-distance trains, the departure of which is less than 24 hours;
- the passenger has the right to leave by train departing earlier than the train for which the ticket was purchased;
- Ticket re-issuance takes place strictly to the destination station indicated in the previously issued ticket;
- re-issuance of a ticket is possible only subject to the availability of seats in the wagons of the carrier for which the original ticket was issued.
Replacing seats in the car
You can reissue a ticket due to a change of seats on the following conditions:
- If less than 24 hours are left before the train departure.
- Replacement of seats and car categories is possible if they are available and subject to a surcharge (or return) of the difference in tariffs. In this case, the question of how much it costs to change a train ticket will answer - you need to pay the difference in tariffs of cheap and expensive categories of cars, since the amount of the fee for reissuing a ticket is insignificant.
What types of tickets can be reissued
You can reissue regular and electronic tickets only for domestic trains. For trains of international significance, such a concept as “change train ticket” does not exist. Such tickets can only be returned on appropriate terms.
How to change an electronic train ticket? Where and how are tickets reissued
If we talk about re-issuing railway tickets (not to be confused with a return!), It can only be made at railway ticket offices. Therefore, regardless of the method of purchase, take your ticket or its electronic copy and go to reissue at the station.
All types of re-issuance of railway tickets are made with deduction of established fees (usually low).
Ticket return
Do not confuse the concepts of refunding and reissuing a ticket. If you are faced with the need to change the train ticket to another number, when there is more than 24 hours left before the train leaves, then you cannot reissue the ticket. Here you can simply issue a refund of an old ticket and purchase a new one at suitable dates. In this case, find out availability for the required dates before issuing the return.
The procedure for returning an electronic ticket can be carried out both at the ticket office or independently - in your personal account on the carrier’s website.
When refunding a ticket, it is necessary to present the original document proving the identity of the passenger for whom the ticket was issued. Without the original document, no refund will be made.
You must carefully read the conditions of return: the presence and size of fines.
A ticket purchased for cash at the railway ticket office must be returned in the same way.
You should also be aware that in some cases the refund of a refunded ticket is not carried out simultaneously with the return of the ticket, but later. Such cases include:
- Cases where the return of an international ticket purchased at a ticket office in Russia is carried out at ticket offices in the CIS, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In this case, the passenger will receive his money only at the international box offices of Russia on the basis of forms for the return of seats.
- Electronic tickets: money for returning a ticket purchased on the Internet does not arrive on the card immediately, but within a month.
Do tickets refund penalties apply
As a rule, if a ticket is canceled no later than one day before the date on which it was purchased, no refund penalties will be charged, money will be refunded almost in full with deduction of a small amount of commission (exceptions are tickets purchased by group tariffs).
Now that you have the basic information about the differences in the procedures for reissuing and refunding train tickets, you can easily make changes to your plans. Due to the loyalty of the rules established by carriers, in this and in another case, you can do with minimal fees. Have a nice trip!